The Family (Malavita) (2013)

Holy shit, this was amazing.

Not a fan of gangster films here, but this was so tastefully done, in the best traditions of Luc Besson and, dare I say, French cinema style.

It's not really boring though it does get tiring, sometime in the second hour. Yet it's perfectly justified in terms of plot and character development. Afterwards, we get to the suspense and the tension which make you fidget in your seat and if you are bold and very relaxed you can start guessing which of the bad guys are gonna get killed first. Absolutely lovely.

To sum up, style, colours, marvelous actors, a touch of humour and ruthlessness (they are a mafiosi family, after all). No regrets.

Jeune&Jolie

In an interview Francois Ozon said that he believed every women secretly fantasizes about being a prostitute. There is a hint of that in the final scenes of the film where George's wife actually admits to it. Overall though, this attitudes translates really well into the film. As I think, it's not necessarily good nor bad.

Prostitution is definitely romanticized here. It's not something the viewer feels dirty about: the film is more about fulfilling one's sexual fantasies. And in a way, this is a good representation of a very popular feminist (I suppose it's feminist because it seems so but I might be very incorrect and stereotyping) anti-slut-shaming thesis: women can enjoy sex, too. They can experience it with different men and they don't deserve to be called sluts for that, when men are definitely not being condemned for being "players" and "polygamous."

But this glamorized version of prostitution is not even remotely realistic. There is that bit with her second client but it's just a moment, a fleeting thing. It teaches  her stuff about how to work. But it's not true; it's not as safe, it's not as nice, and the prices are not real (I guess they aren't, that's just too much but I'm not an expert).

As my friend said, if a young, sensitive, a little adventurous 17-years old girl saw the film, she would want to try this, too. And it's not exactly a path that might lead them to the ending of the film. It's not always a happy ending.

"Tu es ravissante," says George. The film is ravissant, gives some food for thought, so overall, an enjoyment.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

I give it up for Steven Spielberg because he's very entertaining. This is his second film that I watch consiously and not as a kid, and I find myself really immersed in it. Usually, my attention span allows me to watch without interruptions a part of the movie that equals the length of an episode of Game of Thrones, and then I find something better to do and get back to the movie the next day, or worse.

But Close Encounters are amazing. I'm not a fan of alien stuff but I teared up during the last scenes where those small large-headed and thin aliens took away the main hero. And then others. It was really cute.

The fact that they used music for attracting the aliens and showing that their intentions are peaceful is great. It felt really in tune with everything out there, and it's really nice that the only people who seemed to rule that world were scientists. I don't think I saw any government officials, which is pretty great, although completely unrealistic.

Also, imagine if it all was happening in the era of Internet. Just - think about it. Wonderful, isn't it? But not equally poetic.

Inside Daisy Clover (1965)

It's more of a story about a teenager than of show business. Irrepressible power and desire to be free. This is why Daisy fell in love with Wade: he gave her freedom from the restraints of the world.

She doesn't care about trust, about lies. No one cares and everyone lies. Cheaters, money-seekers, fame-seekers, it's unpleasant but it's also distant. After all, Daisy doesn't let it get to her.

Wade is obviously supposed to be a bigger character because he says smart astute things, like "What is it that makes us rich, successful and unhappy?"; "Poor rich lonely lovely Mrs.Swan" (yeah, I wrote down these quotes, doesn't make me a hipster). The author is speaking through him but it's so quite and unimportant. It's just a small part, yet it does add to the atmosphere of the film as a whole. According to wikipedia, it's the first representation of a gay character in media who doesn't kill himself or is ashamed of his sexuality. Well, he obviously doesn't care and he keeps doing what he's doing because it's what he does best.

Also, I'm not sure there was such good editing in the 1930-s. Jumping around the stars? Hmm...

The Wolverine (2013)

Argh. I love X-Men, always did, but either I'm growing up or films are really shitty.

Hugh Jackman is a wonderful actor, a very attractive man and has delicious muscles. In a nutshell, a sight to behold. But cringe-worthy cliches? Bar fights? Hiding away in Canada?

I can't say that it was all the way terrible, since there were awesome moments but they usually had something to do with Wolverine's rebirth - spoilers: how he tore this microscopic robot from his chest and how he regenerates his original bone claws when his adamant ones are cut-off by crazy billionaire and ex-soldier who inhabited the robot suit.

But I knew from the beginning that he's gonna hook up with Mariko, and although I guessed the wrong moment (I thought she'll be the one healing him from bullets and bam! typical romance between a nurse and her patient) but it was still stupidly romantic in a get-away house in Nagasaki.

The dropped atomic bomb was incredibly scary but also incredible well done. I saw it in 3D and I just can't imagine anyone seeing it in real life and staying sane. Although now that I think of it - was the explosion really *that* big. Okay, I don't want to think about it. I thought about it. Wikipedia says that not that big. Alright, I can understand the need for striking visuals.

My last remark is: for the first few minutes after the introduction of Mariko I thought that her and Yukio were romantically involved. Maybe it's my twisted mind since they're like sisters but wouldn't it be awesome? That would leave Hugh Jackman without a romantic interest but I'm content to stare at his arms. But maybe that's just me.

The King's Speech

When at school I learnt the hard truth of monarchy, constitutional, in particular, I lost all the interest I used to have in it. It is really sad that all those people in beautiful old-fashioned dresses and living in amazing castles don't make any real decisions but still have to follow rules of etiquette and always think before doing. Not really fair, as I thought when I was so much younger.

They don't get to have real life, real feelings, real anything - and films or TV series that I saw at the time about monarchs and court's life fueled that stereotype. And now, I'm older and possibly a bit wiser and I am still reluctant to let go of that. Seeing Kate and William, and them being so cute and real, hearing about that Swedish princess that got married to her fitness instructor or something - it ought to destroy this conception of mine.

None of these royal couples has achieved it though, but this film, The King's Speech, did.

It is an impossibly good mix of grandeur and ordinariness: there is Colin Firth walking through Westminster Abbey, and there he is, hiding in Lionel's office from Mrs. Logue. Telling bedtime stories to his kids and talking with prime ministers.

We get to see the inside of the royals' life and it all seems so genuine.
We've seen plenty of prime ministers portrayed on screen - from Hugh Grant to Meryl Streep but personally I've never seen a life of a king or a queen (a prince or a princess) that I wanted to be a part of. I always looked at them from the bird's eye point of view and rarely felt anything but overwhelming sadness for their ruined unhappy lives.

I was as nervous as "Bertie", I was as anxious as Elizabeth, I even sympathized with Churchill.

Brilliant movie, and it deserved all the awards it got.

Nashville (1975)

"It's Nashville. Sing!"

Someone should have mentioned to me that at least half of those 159 minutes will be taken up by singing, I'd have watched the whole movie at once. But it's probably my fault because it's Nashville and it's 1970-s.

I like movies like this: the ones that are not character-driven but those that are tied together by something bigger than just people. Places, events, domes (that's an allusion to Under The Dome, currently on CBS, and I have missed the last episode and haven't read review, so I'm in denial that it's all gonna be alright and there aren't gonna be a lot of cliches, but I'm getting off the topic). I prefer a cacophony of voices over one or two deciding what I ought to think about the world and how I'm supposed to view it. I like different opinions because it reveals life from all kinds of points of view and you are the only one who gets to figure out which one is right.

I also strongly believe that if a writer manages to pen something like this they're genius. Because the story comes not from one character but from all of them, pouring out of them and transforming everything around. I guess I'm essentially talking about freedom of speech. Well.

I chose this photo to represent the movie because this blondie up there, in her short skirt and ripped tights is what Nashville is. She's like the city that watches from behind the curtain at everything that's going on and chooses just the right moment to act. They're Nashville, they're singing. No matter what those newcomers, strangers, wannabes, managers, producers, BBC journalists try to do, they're still the same, they're still the one.

When the audience boos at Barbara Jean, when they make Sueleen Gay do the striptease, when the BBC chick misses her story getting lost in the crowd of people, when a guy from another city kills Barbara, and the politics mixed into all of this, it is the power of the city.

Everyone who comes to Nashville is there to please it, so that the city will make them famous or rich. But the essence of the city always stays the same, and no one can change it. Stars come and go, people, too, but Nashville is here to stay.

But while watching I kept thinking: are they all just nuts or are we just too boring?